Retrospective: Michael Holden
Retrospective: Michael Holden This is one of three articles looking back at the lives and careers of the young co-stars of Granada Television’s iconic adaptation of The Owl Service which first aired in 1969-70. All three – Michael Holden, Gillian Hills and Francis Wallis – had disappeared from the acting profession by the time The Owl Service was repeated in colour in 1978. This is Michael’s story. Michael Holden, born Michael Turner, was a Welsh actor who had a short television career in the years leading up to 1970. His earliest screen credit was in Barbarian Librarians , an episode of the popular ITV sitcom Please Sir! first shown on 6 December 1968. The storyline sees Fenn Street school teacher Bernard Hedges (John Alderton) entrust his unruly class 5C with a project to set up and run an after-school library. Inevitably, 5C’s time in the library is spent partying, smoking and drinking. The library is ransacked after Michael’s character Graham Webster, from rival class 5B, is sum...